§276. Department liability for environmental contamination in right-of-way; exemption

A. When the department acquires property for a transportation facility or in a transportation corridor through the exercise of expropriation authority, or by purchase or donation, it shall not be subject to any liability due solely to its ownership imposed by Subtitle II of Title 30 of the Louisiana Revised Statutes of 1950 and regulations promulgated pursuant thereto for pre-existing soil or groundwater contamination or other discharges or releases onto department right-of-way by persons other than department employees or agents. Nothing contained in this Section affects the rights or liabilities of any past or future owners of the acquired property nor does it affect the liability of the department for the results of its actions which create or aggravate a pollution source, release, or discharge. The department and the Department of Environmental Quality may enter into interagency agreements for the performance, funding, and reimbursement of the investigative and remedial acts necessary for property acquired by the department.

B. To the extent that the department voluntarily remediates sites within its rights-of-way for which it is exempted from liability under this Section due to factors of significant project delay or impact on contractors employed by the department, the Department of Environmental Quality shall assist in identifying and notifying potentially responsible parties and demanding participation in the remediation costs incurred by the department. If a potentially responsible party refuses to participate in the costs of remediation which are subsequently determined by a court to be the responsibility of a nonparticipating responsible party, all nonparticipating responsible parties shall be solidarily liable to the department for the costs of remediation incurred by the department, subject to the rights of contribution or indemnity from other parties responsible for the pollution source, release, or discharge, and for the attorney fees incurred in prosecuting the demand for participation and collection action authorized in this Section.

Acts 1995, No. 1088, §1, eff. June 29, 1995.